More Opportunities for Judging

npasquale16

Secret Lives of Women is on right now and the episode is about child brides who marry legally in the U.S. at the age of thirteen or fourteen.

AllAboutTheBenjamin

I know back in the days of yore, or whatever it was, girls got married at that age... but damn.  Times change.  And getting married at 13 and starting a family is not okay.

andyandhillary

In what state is that allowed?  The youngest I've heard that was legal was 15 with parental consent. 

Are their certain cultures they are focusing on?

npasquale16

It just started, so they're introducing the storylines.  So far a bunch of girls are all pregnant, so I'm guessing that's one of the slants they're presenting.  One was an arranged marriage  It seems like later they'll have people who regret marrying so young and women who were trapped into marriages.

The stories are mostly coming from Nebraska and Kansas so far. 

AllAboutTheBenjamin

This reminds me of the ugh... what was his name?  In Texas I think (that could be wrong)?  Warren Jeffs! 

It was completely acceptable for men to marry very young teen girls in that compound and look how that is turning out - plus, the stories from those poor young brides/mothers.  What a nightmare.

It's just wrong.

npasquale16

The woman who is on now was married at 13 to a 19 year old and they've been married for 33 years. She met him when he was in jail and he'd throw love notes to her out "the win-der" (window). 

I'm reserving judgement for now, because they have been married for a long time and seem happy, but she is missing a significant amount of teeth and he was playing a banjo at one point. 

Might be the time to cue the Deliverance theme song.

Blueyed228

I am watching it too.

They had to get parental consent, so I blame the parents.

andyandhillary

Hmmm is it a re-run?  I think I may have seen it before.

I don't judge them so much as their parents. 

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

I think the legal age of marriage in Kentucky is/was 12 with parental consent. In a good amount of states it was 14 for a while.

Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13 year old cousin in 1958 when he was 23. That was scandalous back then.

I have a friend who got married at 17 when her husband was 21. He parents had to sign off on it.

And back in the day when girls married young they 1) usually married men who were 20+ years older, who could support them and 2) they waited to consumate the marriage untilt he girl was older. Now, today, in certain areas, like in the Middle East, you'll often find really young, pre-pubescent girls who are getting married to 20 year old guys, who consumate the marriage ASAP. Which is awful. There was a big divorce case in Yemen a few years ago where a 9 year old girl (I think) filed for divorce.

npasquale16

Yep, I judge the parents.

A few of the stories are from Kentucky where, if I'm understanding everything, it's legal to get married at 15.  A few of the older women (including Deliverance) ran away to other states to get married.


ETA: with parental consent

npasquale16

Blue--why was the one guy sent to prison?  Because he got the 14 year old pregnant? 

I feel really bad for one girl.  She was in an arranged marriage at 15 to someone 20 years older than her.

vegasgroom

I think a really long time ago marriage of young teens was often because life expectancy was much shorter and maybe younger girls had more liklihood of surviving the birth since medicine was not that great; of course one or two hundred years later there's no medical reason for that anymore.

This thread reminds me of  the Roman Polanski case.  For those who aren't familiar, the cliffnotes are:

Acclaimed movie director Roman Polanski was 44 (yes, forty four) years old in 1977 and was hanging out at Jack Nicholson's house while Jack was not at home.  13 year old Samatha Geimer ends up at the house for a photoshoot and they end up having intercourse in all three orifices.  She called the cops and claims she was drugged by him and then raped, he claims it was consensual (yes, the 13 year old wanted it).  A plea bargain was reached where he pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse, he spent a month in a psych jail for evaluation, was supposed to be sentenced where the expectation was a few more months instead of the probation he had been hoping for so he fled the country and has never come back.  He has since directed some Oscar winning movies which made half the world forget he raped a 13 year old anally when he was 44 so all kinds of people came out in support of him not being extradited back to the US in 2009 when Swiss authorities picked him up.  He has since been let go on a technicality